Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct cultivar of  Chrysanthemum  plant named ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’, characterized by its upright and uniformly mounded plant habit; freely branching and vigorous growth habit; dark green-colored foliage; uniform flowering response; early and freely flowering habit; daisy-type inflorescences with dark bronze-colored ray florets; and excellent postproduction longevity with inflorescences maintaining good substance and color for about four weeks in an interior environment.

Botanical designation: Chrysanthemum×morifolium.

Cultivar denomination: ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’.

CROSS-REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Chrysanthemum Plant Named Currant Yoirvine; Wendy R. Bergman, applicant; filed concurrently (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 11/983,744).

Chrysanthemum Plant Named Regal Yoirvine; Wendy R. Bergman, applicant; filed concurrently (U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 11/983,732).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemum×morifolium, commercially grown as a pot-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’.

The new Chrysanthemum is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Chrysanthemum×morifolium cultivar Yoirvine, not patented. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of the cultivar Yoirvine in December, 2003, in Fort Myers, Fla. in a controlled greenhouse environment. The selection of this plant was based on its uniform plant growth habit, vigor, freely branching habit, desirable inflorescence form and floret colors, fast response time and excellent postproduction longevity

Asexual reproduction of the new Chrysanthemum by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Fort Myers, Fla. in March, 2004. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Plants of the cultivar Dark Bronze Yoirvine have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.

The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’. These characteristics in combination distinguish ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’ as a new and distinct pot-type Chrysanthemum cultivar:

-   -   1. Upright and uniformly mounded plant habit.     -   2. Freely branching and vigorous growth habit.     -   3. Dark green-colored foliage.     -   4. Uniform flowering response.     -   5. Typically grown as a natural spray type.     -   6. Early flowering habit, eight-week response time.     -   7. Freely flowering habit.     -   8. Daisy-type inflorescences with dark bronze-colored ray         florets.     -   9. Excellent postproduction longevity with inflorescences         maintaining good substance and color for about four weeks in an         interior environment.

Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the parent, the cultivar Yoirvine, in the following characteristics:

-   -   1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flower a few days later than         plants of the cultivar Yoirvine.     -   2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum and the cultivar Yoirvine         differ in ray floret color as plants of the cultivar Yoirvine         have light purple-colored ray florets.

Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the cultivars Currant Yoirvine and Regal Yoirvine primarily in ray floret color.

Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can be compared to plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Yoauburn, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,526. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Fort Myers, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Yoauburn in the following characteristics:

-   -   1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were fuller than and not as         upright as plants of the cultivar Yoauburn.     -   2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had darker green-colored         leaves than plants of the cultivar Yoauburn.     -   3. Inflorescences of plants of the new Chrysanthemum and the         cultivar Yoauburn differed in ray floret color as plants of the         cultivar Yoauburn had orange bronze-colored ray florets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PHOTOGRAPH

The accompanying photograph illustrates the overall appearance of the new Chrysanthemum. This photograph shows the colors as true as it is reasonably possible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type. Colors in the photograph may differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailed botanical description which accurately describe the colors of the new Chrysanthemum. The photograph comprises a side perspective view of typical flowering plants of ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’ grown in a container.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The aforementioned photographs and following observations and measurements describe plants grown in Leamington, Ontario, Canada during the summer in a glass-covered greenhouse and under conditions and practices which approximate those generally used in commercial pot-type Chrysanthemum production. During the production of the plants, day temperatures ranged from about 21° C. to 27° C., night temperatures ranged from about 17° C. to 19° C. and light levels ranged from 4,000 to 6,000 foot candles. Four unrooted cuttings were directly stuck in 15-containers, exposed to long day/short night conditions, and pinched about three weeks later. At the time of the pinch, the photoinductive short day/long night treatments were started. Plants used in the photographs and for the description were center-budded and were about eleven weeks old. In the following description, color references are made to The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 1995 Edition, except where general terms of ordinary dictionary significance are used.

-   Botanical classification: Chrysanthemum×morifolium cultivar Dark     Bronze Yoirvine. -   Parentage: Naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the     Chrysanthemum×morifolium cultivar Yoirvine, not patented. -   Propagation:     -   -   Type.—Terminal vegetative cuttings.         -   Time to initiate roots.—About four days at temperatures of             about 21° C.         -   Time to produce a rooted young plant.—About ten days at             temperatures of about 21° C.         -   Root description.—Fine to thick, fibrous; white in color.         -   Rooting habit.—Freely branching; moderately dense. -   Plant description:     -   -   Appearance.—Herbaceous daisy pot-type Chrysanthemum             typically grown as a center-budded or as a natural spray             type. Stems upright and outwardly spreading giving a             uniformly mounded appearance to the plant. Freely branching             habit, about four lateral branches develop after removal of             terminal apex (pinching); dense and full plant habit. Strong             and vigorous growth habit.         -   Plant height.—About 28 cm.         -   Plant width.—About 45 cm.         -   Lateral branches.—Length: About 24 cm. Diameter: About 6 mm.             Internode length: About 2.1 cm. Strength: Strong. Texture:             Pubescent. Color: Between 144A and 146B. -   Foliage description:     -   -   Arrangement.—Alternate, simple.         -   Length.—About 7.6 cm.         -   Width.—About 5.2 cm.         -   Shape.—Palmately lobed.         -   Apex.—Cuspidate to mucronate.         -   Base.—Attenuate with truncate tendencies.         -   Margin.—Palmately lobed, sinuses between lateral lobes             parallel to convergent.         -   Texture, upper and lower surfaces.—Fine pubescence; veins             prominent on lower surface.         -   Color.—Developing leaves, upper surface: Darker than 147A.             Developing leaves, lower surface: Darker than 147B. Fully             expanded leaves, upper surface: Close to 147A; venation,             close to 147A to 147B. Fully expanded leaves, lower surface:             Close to 147B; venation, close to 147B.         -   Petiole.—Length: About 1.4 cm. Diameter: About 5 mm.             Texture, upper and lower surfaces: Pubescent. Color, upper             and lower surfaces: Close to 147B. -   Inflorescence description:     -   -   Appearance.—Daisy-type inflorescence form with elongated             oblong-shaped ray florets. Inflorescences borne on terminals             above foliage. Disk and ray florets arranged acropetally on             a capitulum. Inflorescence not fragrant. Typically grown as             a natural spray type.         -   Flowering response.—Under natural conditions, plants flower             in the autumn/winter in the Northern Hemisphere. At other             times of the year, inflorescence initiation and development             can be induced under short day/long night conditions (at             least 13.5 hours of darkness). Early flowering habit; plants             exposed to three weeks of long day/short night conditions             followed by photoinductive short day/long night conditions             flower about eight weeks later.         -   Postproduction longevity.—Inflorescences maintain good color             and substance for about four weeks in an interior             environment.         -   Quantity of inflorescences.—Freely flowering, about 13             inflorescences develop per lateral stem.         -   Inflorescence bud.—Height: About 5.5 mm. Diameter: About             8 mm. Shape: Oblate. Color: Close to 147A.         -   Inflorescence size.—Diameter: About 7.2 cm. Depth (height):             About 1.4 cm. Diameter of disc: About 1.2 cm. Receptacle             height: About 5 mm. Receptacle diameter: About 6 mm.             Receptacle color: Close to 144A to 144B.         -   Ray florets.—Shape: Elongated oblong. Orientation: Initially             upright, then with development, close to perpendicular from             vertical. Aspect: Initially incurved, then mostly flat.             Length: About 3.7 cm. Width: About 1.3 cm. Apex: Acute.             Base: Attenuate; short corolla tube. Margin: Entire.             Texture, upper and lower surfaces: Smooth, glabrous; satiny.             Number of ray florets per inflorescence: About 32 arranged             in about two or three whorls. Color: When opening and fully             opened, upper surface: Close to 6A overlain with close to             53A. When opening and fully opened, lower surface: Close to             6C to 6D underlain with close to between 53A and 59A.         -   Disc florets.—Arrangement: Massed at center of receptacle.             Shape: Tubular, elongated. Apex: Five-pointed. Length: About             5 mm. Width: About 1 mm. Number of disc florets per             inflorescence: About 158. Color, immature: Apex: Close to             154B. Mid-section and base: Close to 155D. Color, mature:             Apex: Close to 6A. Mid-section: Close to 154A. Base: Close             to 155D.         -   Phyllaries.—Number of phyllaries per inflorescence: About 16             arranged in about two whorls. Length: About 1 cm. Width:             About 4 mm. Shape: Lanceolate. Apex: Acute. Base: Truncate.             Margin: Entire. Texture, upper surface: Smooth, waxy.             Texture, lower surface: Pubescent. Color, upper surface:             Close to 146A. Color, lower surface: Close to 147A.         -   Peduncles.—Length: First peduncle: About 6 cm. Fourth             peduncle: About 8.5 cm. Seventh peduncle: About 12.5 cm.             Diameter (first peduncle): About 3 mm. Angle: About 45° from             vertical. Strength: Strong, flexible. Texture: Pubescent.             Color: Close to between 144A to 146B.         -   Reproductive organs.—Androecium: Present on disc florets             only. Stamen length: About 5 mm. Filament length: About             4 mm. Filament color: Close to 154D. Anther shape: Narrowly             oblong. Anther length: Less than 1 mm. Anther color: Close             to 6A. Pollen amount: None observed. Gynoecium: Present on             both ray and disc florets. Pistil length: About 5 mm. Stigma             shape: Bi-parted. Stigma color: Close to 4A. Style length:             About 5 mm. Style color: Close to 4A. Ovary color: Close to             155D.         -   Seed/fruit.—Seed and fruit production has not been observed. -   Disease/pest resistance: Resistance to pathogens and pests common to     Chrysanthemums has not been observed on plants grown under     commercial conditions. -   Temperature tolerance: Plants of the new Chrysanthemum tolerate     temperatures ranging from about 5° C. to about 38° C. 

1. A new and distinct Chrysanthemum plant named ‘Dark Bronze Yoirvine’ as illustrated and described. 